The Raid
I would be lying if I said I hadn't hoped for a better result.
I thought my counterattack would have done some real damage.
Yet, there he was, standing completely intact.
I swallowed a sigh and kept running.
"Lord Kane!"
"V-Vice Captain! Are you alright?!"
"...My limbs are broken."
Wait, what?
Well, that was a pleasant surprise.
Glancing back, I saw the Vice Captain standing frozen, drenched in cold sweat.
"Go! I will recover shortly and catch up. Capture her immediately!"
The one-armed swordsman and the one-legged martial artist sprang forward in unison.
I wanted to finish off the Vice Captain, but they were already herding me to prevent any such opening.
Left with no choice, I set my sights on the fourth floor once again.
I leaped over debris, dodged flying blades, and slipped past rushing fists. I scrambled up to the second floor, only to find the path blocked, forcing me back down to the first.
All the while, I constantly evaded the slashes of the one-armed swordsman hot on my heels. But as I kept dodging...
'Wait, isn't he kind of slow?'
His attacks were entirely avoidable.
They were sharp, sure, but they lacked real speed.
As I spent a little more time running and dodging, I didn't just get used to his patterns—I actually found the breathing room to plan a counterattack.
So, I did.
Thwip! A stone spike erupted from the ground, skewering the one-armed swordsman's foot. Immediately after, the floor beneath the one-legged martial artist caved in, dragging him down.
Loud thuds echoed from the pit, suggesting he was punching his way back up. I had dug it pretty deep, though, so it would take him some time to climb out.
I spurred my legs forward once more.
I raised the earth to block the swordsman's strikes, then collapsed the structures to barricade the path.
But then, a sudden worry crossed my mind.
'The mansion is getting completely trashed...'
It wasn't even me doing most of the damage.
Surely Master won't put me on an all-vegetable diet for this.
Lost in thought, I dug another pit.
"Aaaargh! Stop! Just stooop!"
The one-legged martial artist fell right into it.
Right after, a stone protrusion shot up and tripped the one-armed swordsman charging from behind.
'At this rate...'
I felt like I could reach the fourth floor without even using the traps I had prepared in advance.
'No. I shouldn't take any chances.'
I couldn't afford to let my guard down.
I still didn't fully understand what a Level 5 Inquisitor was capable of.
Even a tiny golem had a hidden trump card, so it wouldn't be surprising if a human had a couple of tricks up their sleeve.
I picked up a piece of scrap metal from the floor, infused it with the Residue of Water, and threw it at the martial artist who was crawling back up.
Then, I infused the blood trickling down my forehead with the Residue of Binding and flicked it toward him.
Naturally, the martial artist swung his fist at the scrap metal.
The instant he struck it, the metal liquefied and clung to the martial artist's body.
"What?!"
Creak! The metal hardened, binding the martial artist's body tight. Without wasting a beat, I transmuted a pit right beneath him.
"Aaaaaargh! You fucking bitch!"
I wondered if it was really appropriate for a holy man to use such foul language.
Feigning shock, I transmuted a set of stairs and ran up.
Second floor, then the third.
My stamina was starting to flag.
My lower abdomen, the source of my mana, throbbed with a burning ache.
But it was fine.
Just one more floor to go.
Or so I thought.
"Huh?"
Rumble!
The third-floor ground began to collapse.
"Uh-oh."
I immediately began transmuting. I fused the falling debris together, shaping it into a makeshift path to step on, then transmuted again, stepped forward, transmuted, transmuted, transmuted...
But the ground kept giving way. Wondering what on earth was happening, I looked down. The Vice Captain, his limbs somehow fully healed, was unleashing bursts of aura from his fists.
The armor that had enveloped his entire body was gone.
Its time limit had run out.
Yet, the aura blasts firing from his fists shattered my transmutations the instant they made contact.
And he was fast. The Vice Captain was launching aura into the air at a speed that matched, if not exceeded, my transmutations.
At this rate, I was going to plummet straight back down to the first floor.
'A cushion...'
I couldn't just fall raw.
I grabbed a large slab of falling marble, flattened it out, and infused it with the Residue of Wind. The wind blasting from the marble forcibly deflected my trajectory and slowed my descent.
Crash!
"Oof...!"
I landed back on the first floor relatively safely.
Still, pain was pain. The wind was knocked out of me for a second, but I forced myself to sit up.
I had no other choice now.
I really hadn't wanted to use it, but I was out of options.
'At least there's a silver lining.'
Thanks to the Residue of Wind, I had landed close to the warehouse.
Crawling at first, I stood up and limped forward as soon as the shock wore off. Running was out of the question; one of my legs felt like it was about to fall off.
Limping heavily, I arrived in front of the first-floor warehouse.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
That wasn't my heartbeat. It was the sound of the Vice Captain charging toward me.
"Stop herrrr!"
Judging by how quickly the voice and the rumbling were approaching, he wasn't far off.
I also heard footsteps pounding the ground from both sides.
Likely the one-armed swordsman and the one-legged martial artist.
It didn't matter.
I flung the warehouse door open.
Out of the many golems Aaron had forbidden me to make, I approached the Potion Launching Golem.
"What on earth is that... S-Stop her!"
I loaded the explosion potion—the one I had infused with the Residue of Compression earlier—bottle and all, into the chamber of the Potion Launching Golem.
Then, I ducked behind the golem.
Thump. Thump.
The golem's chassis shuddered.
Squeezing my aching lower abdomen, I channeled mana into the golem's core.
"Stop that homunculus immediately! No, kill—"
The moment the injection was complete, I pulled the lever.
The golem launched the compressed explosion potion.
And then...
A crimson explosion completely engulfed the interior of the mansion.
"It's a glass bottle that even a high knight cannot easily break."
Just as Aaron had said, the potion bottle had held together.
Thanks to that, I was still breathing.
"Blegh."
I hastily gulped down one of the potions I had tucked in my shirt.
My wounds began to knit together, and some of my strength returned.
As I stumbled to my feet, I saw that an entire wall of the mansion had been completely vaporized.
It was the wall directly in front of the Potion Launching Golem.
'...I am in so much trouble.'
I couldn't even begin to imagine what Aaron would say when he returned.
I didn't even want to think about it.
I refused to.
"Ugh..."
I stood up as soon as the dizziness passed.
Severed human limbs lay scattered across the collapsed debris.
Seeing the Vice Captain's limbs among them, I knew he was dead.
But I couldn't afford to dwell on that.
"W-What in the world..."
"This is alchemy? Not high magic...?"
"V-Vice Captain Kane! Vice Captain! Vice Captain!!"
"Hey. That girl over there, could she..."
"...Did that child really do this?"
Beyond the vaporized wall of the mansion.
About a dozen Inquisitors clad in black were gathered.
They all stared at me in unison.
"*Hic.*"
It was just like when the Vice Captain and the other two Inquisitors had first entered the mansion.
A chilling silence hung in the air.
Knowing what would happen if they made the first move, none of them dared to budge.
"*Hic.*"
Only the sound of my hiccups echoed through the silence.
I figured they had a trump card hidden, but I hadn't expected it to be reinforcements.
And that wasn't all.
Behind the dozen or so Inquisitors, a crowd too large to count at a glance began to swarm in.
I was in deep trouble. What should I do?
Instead of wasting time on useless panic, I forced myself to think of a way out.
'Should I try running back up to the fourth floor?'
My room was still intact, but in my current state, I could barely even walk.
'What if I transmute a rising stone pillar and ride it up to the fourth floor?'
There was no way they would just stand by and watch me do that.
'A way. There has to be a way.'
I couldn't give up.
Who knew what they would do to me if I was dragged off to the Holy Kingdom?
These were people who casually ordered limbs to be severed just for transport. I absolutely could not let them take me alive.
My feverish brain spun at high speed.
I tried to come up with a solution to this crisis.
The only residues I had left were fire and explosion.
Materials for alchemy were scattered everywhere, so that wasn't an issue, but I lacked the necessary residues.
Still, I had the mana storage jars buried underground.
'If I can just use those properly...'
I might be able to pull something off.
But for that to work, every single one of those Inquisitors had to step inside the mansion.
Should I try to bait them?
Just as I moved my body with that thought in mind—
"Disperse!"
Nearly forty Inquisitors moved in unison.
"Watch out for traps! There could be traps!"
"Keep in mind that this is an alchemist's workshop! Disperse!"
They weren't fools.
As the Inquisitors scattered left, right, up, and down, a single man stood at the center of them all. He was clearly in a different league.
The moment he spoke, the other Inquisitors halted.
"Are you a homunculus?"
"*Cough.* I'm Lulu. I am not a homunculus."
"Ha. Did the Third Disaster give you a name?"
"No, the orphanage gave it to me."
"What a load of elaborate nonsense."
"It is the truth."
He scoffed and drew his sword.
"Do you even know what kind of atrocities your father, or whatever that Third Disaster is to you, has committed?"
"Master saved me."
"Master? Ha! There is no man more disgusting."
"Master is not disgusting."
"If you said that to the families of those he slaughtered, they would tear you limb from limb."
"Perhaps they died because they committed sins worthy of death? My master is not a bad person."
A chilling, murderous intent erupted from the man.
It seemed I had successfully baited him without even trying.
But I hadn't said it just to provoke him.
Having lived with Aaron all this time, I knew.
He might be a bit blunt and cold, but Aaron was not an evil man.
"I would love nothing more than to slice you apart piece by piece, but unfortunately, we have orders to capture you alive. Consider it a stroke of luck, you filthy beast."
"Are all Inquisitors so foul-mouthed?"
"There is no reason to be polite to heretics."
"I am not a heretic."
"And I have no reason to listen to the words of a beast."
Wow, the clergymen of this world really have terrible mouths.
I prepared my transmutation with that thought.
If I transmuted two stakes rising from the ground and infused them with the residues of fire and explosion in sequence...
The mana storage jars I had hidden would react all at once, triggering a massive explosion.
How I would survive the blast was the real problem, but as long as I kept a sliver of life, I could probably pull through using the potions Aaron had given me.
"As long as she is breathing, it is fine. In fact, roughing her up might be better. We might get to see the Third Disaster grimace. Go, seize her."
The man's command fell.
I immediately transmuted the two stakes.
"You speak far too freely in front of a child."
Suddenly, a presence made itself known.
The Inquisitors rushing toward me froze in their tracks. Their faces turned pale as sheets as they stared behind me.
A few of them even dropped their weapons.
"You did well."
I immediately understood why.
"Welcome back, Master."
"Yes. I am a bit late."
I turned around to see a very welcome face.
"It hasn't been ten days yet. You aren't late."
"...I suppose."
Aaron let out a soft chuckle and nodded.
"Indeed, I am not late. If I had been even a moment later, you would have reduced this entire area to ashes. Even the Imperial Palace would have been in danger."
"It wouldn't have been that bad."
"It would have."
Aaron patted my back and stepped forward.
"Rest now."
"I will wait here, just in case."
I knew Aaron was strong, but I still couldn't fathom him taking on forty Inquisitors all by himself.
Especially since the man standing in the center possessed an aura that was anything but ordinary.
I worried that even Aaron might struggle.
"Lulu."
"Yes?"
"Do you know what they call your master?"
Ah.
Aaron, who had always told me not to call him master, had just referred to himself as one.
I stared at his back, speaking as if possessed.
"The Third Disaster."
"Yes. The world calls me a disaster."
Before I knew it, the world was dyed in a brilliant golden light.
"Watch closely, for this is the stage you will reach one day."
"Mas... No, Master, what is your tier? What kind of transmutation can you do at that level... Huh?"
Aaron's right hand deconstructed the world.
Witnessing that godlike transmutation, I finally understood why this world called him a disaster.
A disaster is a disaster because humanity cannot resist it.
Everything in sight was ground into dust.